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Action! Excitement! Transmedia! Step inside Comic-Con to discover the cultural trends that will shape our world

“I’ve been in comics so long I sometimes think I invented ’em! But I just read Rob Salkowitz’s terrific new book and, y’know what? Even I learned new stuff! If you’re a comic book nut like me, miss it at your own risk!”―Stan Lee, Legendary Comic Creator and Publisher

“Salkowitz tells it pretty much like it is: the good, the bad, and the ugly of the commercialization of one of America’s greatest art forms, as well as the indefatigable artistry of its creators. He is at once informative, insightful, sobering, and inspiring.”―Douglas Rushkoff, pop culture analyst and author of Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

“If you care at all about comics, this is an essential read (and if you don’t, Salkowitz just might win you over). But it’s also grab-worthy for anyone interested in the fascinating, conflicted, unfolding future of digital publishing and transmedia entertainment.”―Booklist (Starred Review)

“What began more than four decades ago as an intimate gathering of comic book creators, fans and legends has become a packed entertainment event. Although it doesn’t have the same ring to it, Comic-Con could more appropriately be called the Transmedia Pop Culture Con where buzz for a year’s worth of projects is created, prolonged or squelched. Yet, despite the awareness that the con is a giant marketplace where producers sell directly to customers, there has been shockingly little analysis of the business of the event before Rob Salkowitz’s new book, “Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture.”―CNN Geekout

“The true gift in Rob’s book is how very hard it becomes for you to decide, whether you’re a business reader reading a pop culture book, or a comics fan reading a business book.”―PopMatters

“The book explores the business aspects of the show and how it is a microcosm of the growing transmedia aspects of both comic books and their connection to things such as film, TV, and video games. All the while, acting as a travelogue by a long-time fan of comics and Comic-Con.” ―Technorati

“Salkowitz’s first hand observation makes us feel like we are walking the convention floor with him. In some chapters you sense his thrill as he meets a few of his fan favorites. Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture should be a great book for comic book fans, moviegoers, pop culture followers, and marketing gurus.”―Trashwire

Welcome to Comic-Con: where the future of pop culture comes to life

Every summer, more than 130,000 comic fans, gamers, cosplay enthusiasts, and nerds of all stripes descend on San Diego to mingle with the top entertainment celebrities and creative industry professionals in an unprecedented celebration of popular culture in all its forms.

From humble beginnings, Comic-Con has mutated into an electrifying, exhausting galaxy of movies, TV, video games, art, fashion, toys, merchandise, and buzz. It’s where the future of entertainment unspools in real time, and everyone wants to be there.

In Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, author Rob Salkowitz, a recognized expert in digital media and the global digital generation (and unabashed comics enthusiast), explores how the humble art form of comics ended up at the center of the 21st-century media universe. From Comic-Con’s massive exhibit hall and panels to its exclusive parties and business suites, Salkowitz peels back the layers to show how comics culture is influencing communications, entertainment, digital technology, marketing, education, and storytelling.

What can the world’s most approachable and adaptable art form tell us about the importance of individual talent and personal engagement in the era of the new global audience, the iPad, and the quarter-billion-dollar summer blockbuster? Here are some of the issues Salkowitz explores:

How do you succeed in the transmedia maelstrom? Comics have hopscotched across the media landscape for decades. What can we learn from their successes and failures as we careen toward a converged digital future?Have comics cracked the digital code? Everyone is scrambling to deal with the business disruptions of digital distribution. Does the recent success of comics on tablets demonstrate a new model for other industries, or do dangers lie ahead?What’s next for “peak geek”? Will the ascendant nerd culture of the early 2010s keep its new audience engaged or burn out from overexposure?

Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture combines the insights business leaders need with the details fans crave about the future ofthe world’s most dynamic industry. Even if you can’t be in San Diego in July, this book brings the excitement into focus . . . no costumes required!

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Booklist, June 1, Starred Review:

Approaching his subject as both a business futurist and a longtime comics fan, Salkowitz takes a prismatic view of the comics world from its squirming heart: the bustling, hype-overloaded juggernaut of the San Diego Comic-Con. He ties anecdotal accounts of the craziness that unfolds at the Con over five days in July with ruminations on the current state of the medium. Though he considers and speaks eloquently to the place of literary graphic novels, quirky webcomics, and the sequential-art format as a whole, his crosshairs sit right atop those of Comic-Con: mainstream (superhero) comics and their (for now, anyway) cozy relationship with Hollywood. Here, if you can pay enough attention through the onslaught of noise, unapologetically vocal fans meet rock-star creators; the crumbling direct market meets fledgling digital distribution channels; approachable story lines meet decades of convoluted continuity; reverence for history meets a dire need for change; and, perhaps most important, quaint, low-margin publishing strategies meet blockbuster Hollywood marketing blitzes. It's all about as easy to pinpoint as an electron cloud, but Salkowitz considers the view from every angle and in a final chapter models four possible scenarios for comics in the next decade. If you care at all about comics, this is an essential read (and if you don't, Salkowitz just might win you over). But it's also grab-worthy for anyone interested in the fascinating, conflicted, unfolding future of digital publishing and transmedia entertainment. -- Ian Chipman "BOOKLIST"

About the Author

Rob Salkowitz is cofounder and Principal Consultant for the Seattle-based communications firm MediaPlant, LLC. He is the author of Young World Rising and Generation Blend and teaches in the Digital Media program at the University of Washington.

I am an independent comics publisher, and I read Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture from beginning to end in a single sitting. I simply could not put it down!

Rob Salkowitz uses his experience at San Diego Comic Con as an entry point into talking about the historical context of the comics industry, how it has come to struggle as it missed the digital boat for a decade as fans started downloading comics illegally, and the players and possibilities for comics creators and publishers today.

What's even more intriguing is that he has provided an international perspective to highlight emerging markets, audiences, and technologies.

Salkowitz provides an invaluable insider-outsider perspective; he comes to his writing as a lover of comics, and uses his knowledge as a business analyst, futurist, and internationalist to talk about a comics industry that might sometimes be so mired in its own habits to see alternative possibilities.

I highly recommend this important book to all comics creators, publishers, retailers, students, fans, or anyone who's interested in the evolution of an industry. It has certainly sparked my thinking and imagination!

Probably one of the best books ever written about the future of entertainment, this book encompasses all the ingredients that make up human life, what it always was, what it has become and how it is evolving.As a long-time attendee of the San Diego ComiCon and many other Cons up until a decade ago, I was there before movie-makers really noticed what was going on and I'm enthralled to read how Hollywood has not only noticed but became a major participant. As New Media (digital) slowly supplants Old Media and connects more and more on the planet, everything is bound to change and Rob Salkowitz explores these changes and the ramifications of what they suggest.Life is learning and everything we learn is useful to our time on this planet. The lessons that Comic-Con and all the other comic-related conventions teach us is that our lives (like comic books and comic art) are sequential. We never stop learning, growing and changing.Sequential art simply tells stories in an entertaining pictorial format and it can be viewed over a period of time to teach and entertain the viewers. This has great bearing and teaches many lessons when we realize that all movies with sequels and television serial shows have over the years developed into franchises and this has become a billion dollar business. Everything is related and once you are hooked on an idea, a thread or a character, you can watch more and more to learn and be entertained. This is greatly over-simplifying the book's message but this book is about what motivates us and how we live, think and act.

I was compelled to write a review about this book because reading it has profoundly opened up my mind and changed the way I think about the future of comics. As someone who has worked in comics for many years, I found Rob's insights to be invaluable. It's both an exciting and daunting time in the comics industry with all the technological advances and popularity comics have garnered in just the last 5 years. Having Rob's book as a guide has been enlightening.

Rob has put together this book in such a way that it's almost as if he has taken an X-ray of the current comic industry landscape and pinpointed all the strengths and weaknesses. Having this type of knowledge is crucial for anyone working in any area of comics today. It's like having a GPS for navigating the world of comics. I'd also like to add that as a comic fan, this book did not disappoint. It's a fun and entertaining read that was hard to put down. I highly recommend this book, it's an eye opener and an enjoyable read all the way through!

Anyone who is professionally connected to the comics world - as a creator, publisher, would-be publisher, dealer, or involved in any enterprise that might someday cross paths with the industry - should read this book before taking too many steps further. It will likely be the best guide they will ever have for understanding the present realities and the numerous possible futures of the business.

As Stan Lee says, miss this book at your own risk. And as one of his characters might add, "Truer words wuz never spoke!"

(And personally: Having grown up reading comics during the Silver Age, my heroes were Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. As the Beatles were to music in that same era, these men were to comics. I am grateful to Rob Salkowitz for his deference to these creators.)

Extremely insightful and thorough analysis of the current state of the comic industry - an absolute must-read for anyone who is a comic book lover but is also interested in the business of comics and wonders where things stand today.